This invention is directed to a charcoal cooker that can be used as a grill for cooking steaks or can be used as a rotisserie for slower cooking of ribs, chicken, turkey, or the like.
In a charcoal cooker of this type, there is typically a main cooker body, i.e., box or bowl, with a grille removably situated at the top and a lid that can be opened for access to the grill and closed for cooking with slow, uniform heat. A rotisserie spit, i.e., a rod that extends transversely across the cooker, is adapted to hold one or more whole chickens, turkeys, or similar items, and mates with a drive for rotating the spit rod during the cooking process. In some cases, a rotisserie basket is used, i.e., for barbecue cooking of pork ribs, fish, large slabs of meat, vegetables, and other items.
The typical rotisserie requires the spit rod and the basket to be interchangeable, but does not have a spit rod that converts to a rotisserie basket or vice versa. Rotisserie grilles have been lacking in means for providing uniform cooking heat over the extent of time needed for roasting, which can exceed an hour, and there has been no effective means provided for holding the spit rod or rotisserie basket for loading of the meat or for removing the cooked meat, or for holding the spit rod or basket outside the cooker box or body for basting or for adjusting the meat items during the cooking process.
There has been a need for a spit rod that is convenient to lift to insert into the rotisserie spit drive, and in which the handle ends remain cool to the touch, and there has been a need for an effective motorized spit rod/basket drive that engages the spit rod when the same is dropped into place on the cooker body, and which reliably rotates the spit rod and the food items at a uniform speed without slipping or jumping.
A number of rotisserie grill cookers have been proposed, which have a frame that holds a fire bowl or fire box and in which a spit is rotated by an electric motor drive, which may include a chain and sprocket mechanism.
Duran U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,896 shows a chain drive for a barbecue spit rod, but relies on intermediate rollers to rotate the rod. Other chain or gear driven rotisserie spit rods are described in Unruh et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,318 and in Danen U.S. Pat. No. 5,801,357. Barbecue cookers that can be converted between grill and rotisserie are described in Rummel U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,518 and Hopponnen U.S. Pat. No. 6,437,291. A rotisserie flavor barrel, which is a combination of a spit rod and a grill basket, is shown in Gabrielle U.S. Pat. No. 7,478,568. A charcoal cooker that has a coal fire box disposed to one side of a main cooker body is shown in Killion Publication US 2005/0155498.
None of the proposed devices of the prior art have been ideally suited for roasting or rotisserie cooking of a number of birds on a spit, as well as being also suited for rotisserie cooking of slabs of meat, ribs, or roasts in a grille basket. None of the cooking devices of the prior art have provided a holder or hook arrangement for supporting the rotary spit rod or grill basket so it can be loaded with the meat articles, or so that the meat can be properly dressed or basted at a station at or near the barbecue grill or cooker. None of the proposed barbecue cooker devices have suggested or described a spit rod that can be easily converted into a grill basket, or which can be converted from a size for cooking smaller birds (i.e., chickens) to a size for cooking larger birds (turkeys).